The eBook addresses health IT’s role in strengthening efforts to reduce health disparities through data standardization

Audacious Inquiry, a national industry-shaping health IT company, today published a new eBook highlighting the role of health IT in improving health equity in U.S. healthcare. Leaning on the team’s extensive knowledge of key policy issues and interoperability standards as a trusted partner to federal and state agencies, health information exchanges, hospital associations, health plans, and providers, the guide provides a framework for addressing health disparities in light of the changing healthcare landscape.

According to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), 58 percent of U.S.-based healthcare professionals identified health equity as one of their organization’s top three priorities. While health disparities have long plagued U.S. healthcare delivery, the COVID-19 pandemic’s exacerbated impact on vulnerable and marginalized patient populations brought amplified attention to the need for targeted efforts to better address inequities.

Asserting health IT’s essential role in standardizing the way data is collected to advance health equity, the eBook identifies key areas for health IT organizations and stakeholders to make a measurable impact through consistent collection of health equity data, including race, ethnicity, language, and disability status. The eBook breaks down current dialogue on the issue and offers key definitions and tangible examples of health disparities. The Health Equity guide also sheds light on how health IT software can support data exchange and analytics to improve patient care and public health policy development at local, state, and federal levels.

“Audacious Inquiry is committed to helping organizations optimize insights and analysis of health equity data as a fundamental requirement for advancing health equity,” said Scott Afzal, President of Audacious Inquiry. “We look forward to our continued work supporting healthcare organizations as they operationalize top priorities including health equity.”

As a certified B Corporation, Audacious Inquiry is committed to using the power of business to solve social problems and provide a public benefit. Addressing how the health IT industry can better standardize health equity data collection is a core part of the Audacious mission to close critical gaps in healthcare and enable better care for the vulnerable patient populations in the states and territories the company serves.

“Data integrity must be a core concern for any organization working to truly address inequitable access to care,” said Marc Rabner, MD, MPH, Director of Clinical Applications at Audacious Inquiry. “With an increased focus on recognizing and addressing health disparities, we’re eager to work closely with healthcare organizations to proactively establish the necessary foundation to improve care for historically marginalized groups.”

Download the eBook “Health Equity and Health Disparities: The Role of Health IT and the Need to Standardize Data Collection” to learn how healthcare entities across the continuum of care are using health IT to advance health equity.